The Raptors were eliminated by the Bulls from the Las Vegas Summer League on Thursday night after they blew an 18-point first half lead.

The Raptors started strong and jumped on the Bulls early through Noman Powell and Bruno Caboclo, the former continuing his Vegas onslaught, while the latter found his shooting touch. Powell ended up cooling off, finished just 5-16 FG and surprisingly sat for an extended stretch while the Bulls made their run to come back. He did display glimpses of play that will make you think he’ll be playing meaningful minutes this season.

The Raptors actually shot the higher percentage, dominated the glass but playing without Delon Wright, the main problem for them was TOs, which they committed 19 of and were run back by the Bulls to good effect. The Raptors had no answer for Doug McDermott who had 28 points on 11-25 shooting, with the majority coming in the second half, and a lot of them against Bruno Caboclo. They also couldn’t cope with Diante Garrett attacking Gary Talton consistently, and creating shot opportunities for guys like Bobby Portis and Cameron Bairstow.

The Raptors will play a consolation game on Friday to round off summer league.

Let’s start with Norman Powell as usual, and let’s focus on skills that are transferable to the NBA, which he displayed plenty of:

Here’s a sweet give-and-go, which you can run with any big. Picture this being run with Patrick Patterson or Luis Scola as part of a horns system, or more simply, on an ad-hoc basis to get a free shot. Powell’s got a drive game so the defense would prefer to go under, and he’s shown this summer league that he can hit that mid-range jumper with confidence.

Here’s a catch-and-shoot out-of-bounds play where he executes that slight step-back at the end to create space and rise over the defense. He gets shot-ready very quickly by taking one purposeful dribble taking him away from the defense. This is a sign of decisiveness that every effective scorer needs to have and, even though it’s just summer league, Powell’s shown he knows what it takes.

The next two plays are him getting blocks via that 6’11” wingspan and pure awareness of what the offense is trying to do. In both situations he’s not the primary defender but has read the situation and has come over to help in the nick of time. He’s clearly an intelligent player that doesn’t just hide on defense by sticking to his man, and is confident in making plays when the initial setup breaks down:

Finally, much has been made of his range and here he knocks down a confident three by lining it up. He shot 32% in college from distance, and this will be what people will force him to do so it’s nice to see him drain one:

Here’s a couple Bruno Caboclo highlights to whet your appetite. He had 15 points on 4-7 shooting and went 6-7 from the stripe which was an improvement. He put it on the floor a lot, and that speaks to his confidence because that is something that wasn’t happening at all last year. I tell myself that it’s the thought that counts when I look at his fluky finish in the second video. He’s moving his feet defensively and there’s clear instruction from the coaches for him to angle offensive players into his arms so he can use them to contest the shot, rather than they going into his body to draw contact. I can’t say it was successful against McDermott, or in general, but at least I believe there’s some coaching going on. The guy just doesn’t have the strength whatsoever to hold off offensive players right now, and once he gets that, then his length advantage will come into play. Right now he’s just getting pushed around too easily.

Up next, it’s Lucas Noguiera and today he was all about the pass. The Raptors ran a ton of screen ‘n rolls for him and it seemed that passing was his preferred option, even when he could’ve done something else. To his credit, he’s a nice passer and has chemistry with Ronald Roberts and Caboclo, so I give him credit there. I just wonder if he has the confidence to score himself against a defense by pulling off a move or two. I really haven’t seen any of that, but I’ll focus on the positives by showing you instances where he did pass to create:

Here’s a pass he made where I thought he shoud’ve just spun and finished it himself:

Finally, this is where he’s best – basically where he has a free dunk available to him and there’s no defense within shouting distance. This is the low-hanging fruit which is great, but we need him to be a little more decisive and skillful in finishing against defenses.

My favorite Bebe play, though, was the one where they dared him to shoot (with audio):

We’ll round off with some random clips. Here’s Roberts pulling down a pretty impressive rebound over Bairstow. Roberts is a bruiser who struggles to finish in close quarters, and appears to require some runway to utilize that self-proclaimed 46″ vertical. I haven’t seen him go up in traffic and finish strong yet, mainly because he’s usually grounded by his lack of skill in doing so. If you see him as a replacement for Greg Steimsma, he’s a definite upgrade:

During the second quarter when this game was very up-and-down, Jordan Bachynski had a few good moments in a row where he got a couple blocks, got a pass from his teammates (a very rare occasion), and then proceeded to finish. It’s probably the highlight of his career:

As per reports, the Raptors have signed French small forward Axel Toupane (plays for Strasbourg) to a deal which would see him get a training camp invite. Blake has you covered on what a “partially guaranteed” deal really means:

A partially-guaranteed contract doesn’t really mean much here. Teams give out plenty of partial guarantees in the offseason, essentially securing the player for the summer and into the fall with a token salary. Will Cherry received a $25,000-guarantee last summer, for example, giving him an incentive to come to camp with the Raptors over another team but costing the Raptors little in the way of actual salary. The amount that gets guaranteed counts toward the salary cap and luxury tax calculations, but Roberts’ non-guaranteed amount is almost surely the $525,093 minimum and the guaranteed amount small – they matter, but with the team so far from the tax and unlikely to use their remaining cap space – they’re words, not mine – this doesn’t move the needle much.

Basically, this type of deal often stands as a sort of “offseason contract.”

Toupane was undrafted in 2014 and has played two games in summer league averaging 11.5 minutes, 4.5 points and 1.3 rebounds. He went undrafted This would bring the number of guaranteed and partially-guaranteed players to 16 since they signed Ronald Roberts to the same deal. So, at this point we have one training camp cut guaranteed. Here’s a little bit more about the native of Mulhouse, France:

The French guard has made a name for himself by playing hard-nosed defense. With his excellent wingspan, he is a great on-ball defender who can put pressure full-court over stretches. He is very active in the passing lanes and can generate early offenses with his aggressiveness. Offensively, Toupane does a bit of everything but he needs to become more regular as a shooter. He can attack the basket but his jump shot is shaky despite a very high release point. In catch-and-shoot situations, he is more regular but he often loses his balance when going for the pull-up jumper out of the dribble. Toupane’s future could be in a 3&D role on the highest level if he can develop his shooting percentages to a different level as he has all the necessary physical tools to play in the NBA.

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/07/16/report-raptors-sign-axel-toupane-to-partially-guaranteed-deal/feed/29Raptors Having a Fire…Sale??http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/04/27/raptors-having-a-fire-sale/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/04/27/raptors-having-a-fire-sale/#commentsMon, 27 Apr 2015 15:30:44 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=54206A significant collapse over the second half of the season and a brutal first round sweep means an interesting summer ahead. And perhaps a Raptors fire sale?

The Raptors began 2014 at the top of the Eastern Conference, and ended it with a record of 24-8. It all seemed so certain moving forward. The Raptors were well on their way to 50 wins, an Atlantic Division Championship, a top seed in the Eastern Conference (perhaps even the top seed), and an overmatched first round opponent in a historically weak conference.

Then the calendar turned to 2015. The Raptors would finish 2015 with a .500 record (25-25), fail to secure the first 50 win season in franchise history, fall to the fourth seed in the conference, and get swept by a Washington Wizards team that made the Raptors look inferior in every single area of the game.

But hey, at least we have another Atlantic Division Championship banner hanging in the rafters…right?

Last night’s loss didn’t make me mad. It didn’t even disappoint me. If anything, it felt like a relief of sorts. A relief that it is all done, a relief that I don’t need to watch the Wizards embarrass the Raptors again in these playoffs, and a relief that change may be coming soon. After all, no matter what direction Masai Ujiri chooses to go changes are imminent.

Prior to the start of the playoffs Ujiri was asked if this playoff run would have any impact on his roster decisions moving forward. Unlike his usually cryptic answers, Ujiri was rather forthcoming and straightforward about what this would mean for the team.

Masai, last week: “Playoffs make an impact in terms of evaluating for the offseason. 100% it influences everything”. Should be a busy summer

That’s as candid as Ujiri gets in regards to his vision for the franchise’s future. “It influences everything.”

In reality, we’ve known all along that Toronto’s success wasn’t by design. The Raptors became one of the NBA’s best stories almost immediately after Ujiri shipped Rudy Gay to Sacramento for their spare parts, and a happy accident ensured as Toronto turned into one of the league’s great experiments. Could a team that intended to tank accidentally succeed without a superstar? Could they actually compete with the best the league had to offer?

For a little over 12 months the answer was a resounding yes. The Raptors went on a brilliant 12 month run that was by far the best in the franchise’s history. Two straight record breaking years, two straight division championships, a blocked lay-up away from the second round, and yet two straight first round playoff exits.

And now the experiment is likely over. The rest of the league caught up to what Toronto was doing, ended this time of success, and pushed them into the dreaded realm of being a treadmill team.

Now, Ujiri and the Raptors find themselves at a fork in the road, and the general belief is that the team could be willing to take a significant step back in order to try to eventually move forward. The Raptors could now tear down the roster than survived such a dismantling less than two years ago.

At the very least, it would be surprising to see Dwane Casey return to the Raptors bench. Free agents such as Lou Williams, Amir Johnson (the Raptors heart and soul for the last six years), Chuck Hayes, Tyler Hansbrough, and Landry Fields (Poor Blake!) could all be gone.

In reality though, it’s not just the free agents that could have just played their last game in a Raptors uniform. Is anyone on the roster other than Bruno truly safe? Could Ujiri look to explore the trade market for DeMar DeRozan? What about last summer’s marque free agent, Kyle Lowry? Has Terrence Ross outlived his ‘potential’? Is it possible that even Jonas Valanciunas, who was viewed as the future franchise cornerstone not long ago, could be sent out in a summer trade?

The noise has already started and will likely only grow as the reality of the season ending sinks in. Raptors’ fans will read/hear more and more about the potential fire sale that is coming to Toronto. Zach Lowe and Amin Elhassan recently covered just this in The Lowe Post podcast on 4/24/15. The entire podcast is worth a listen, but here is the money quote from Lowe (starting at the 43:30 mark):

Let’s say it ends on Sunday…a Raptors convincing loss in the first round, I think all bets are off about what happens in the offseason. I think literally every player is on the table. Anyone can be moved. I think Dwane Casey is in trouble. I think that’s the license that Masai Ujiri has to say, ‘Okay, this team went as far as it can go, it’s just not very good. Let me start putting my stamp on it.’

That, in a nutshell, is where the Raptors find themselves. It will be common (and realistic!) thought that will be permeating every discussion involving Toronto for the foreseeable future.

At the moment there are far more questions than anything else, and the coming months should provide the answers.

One thing is for sure though; this offseason can’t help but be more enjoyable and exciting than this Wizards’ series was.

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/04/27/raptors-having-a-fire-sale/feed/51Quick React: Raptors 99, Wizards 106http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/04/24/quick-react-raptors-99-wizards-106/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/04/24/quick-react-raptors-99-wizards-106/#commentsSat, 25 Apr 2015 02:59:06 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=54077The Raptors were beaten once again by the Wizards, possibly leaving them with just 48 minutes remaining on their season.

Amir Johnson, PF33 MIN | 6-7 FG | 2-4 FT | 12 REB | 3 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 2 TO | 14 PTS | -3 +/-I love Amir. He’s been the heart of the team for so many heartless seasons. Despite his body breaking down at an incredibly worrying rate, I still fear that his time in a Raptors uniform may be coming to a close. I hate seeing him run though…my body has sympathy pains. Either way, great effort to battle by Amir. He is not what he once was, and I think his time as an impact player is ending, but he still can make a big play here and there.

Terrence Ross, SF30 MIN | 4-9 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 1 BLK | 1 TO | 10 PTS | +1 +/-The Raptors as a whole concede plenty of good looks on defense simply by overrotating. That’s not the case for Ross. Ross just gets lost, caught on every screen he tries to fight over, and forgets where is man is. He makes up for it at points by getting a steal or a help block (such as early in the first quarter), but for a player who is supposed to be 3 and D prototype he leaves much to be desired on defense…and often from 3.

Jonas Valanciunas, C25 MIN | 4-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 10 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 8 PTS | +2 +/-Jonas was blocked three times in the first quarter…two by Drew Gooden. I felt like crying. He was abused all night by Gortat and looked two steps slow on all of his rotations. Huge disappointment.

Kyle Lowry, PG38 MIN | 5-22 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 7 AST | 4 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 15 PTS | 0 +/-Lowry came to play early, which was a pleasant surprise considering the reports earlier in the day of him being ill. His shot wasn’t falling, but he was flying everywhere and easily had his best game of the series to date. Granted, that’s not a huge accomplishment considering his first two performances, but he was clearly more mentally engaged tonight.

DeMar DeRozan, SG41 MIN | 11-29 FG | 7-7 FT | 6 REB | 6 AST | 1 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 32 PTS | -6 +/-DeRozan hit all three of his shots from deep in the first quarter. I almost called my doctor to set up an appointment for my eyes. I have no idea how DeMar goes through bursts of such success from three, and then struggles to hit anything.

Scoring 20 first quarter points (a franchise playoff record for points in a quarter), dominant doesn’t begin to describe how good DeMar was to start the game. The same cannot be said from the remainder of the game though as he would go on to score just 32 points despite starting with 20 in the first.

Tyler Hansbrough, PF12 MIN | 0-1 FG | 1-2 FT | 3 REB | 2 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 1 PTS | 0 +/-Hansbrough and Nene seemed at points to be playing their own game: Who can successfully rip an arm off the other without getting called for a foul. Great battle that led to very little, but still the biggest contribution that Tyler offered.

Dwane Casey
With his level of play, Valanciunas in no way deserved to play through his foul trouble, and yet Casey gave him that opportunity. I’m done trying to figure out how Casey makes his rotation decisions. My hope is that this move will pay dividends in the years to come as a learning opportunity for Jonas. I think the Raptors have better odds at winning this series than Casey has of returning to the Toronto bench next season.

Five Things We Saw

The Washington crowd started the night with class by booing the Canadian anthem. I’ve got no beef with booing the opposition and making your home court difficult for the opposition, but booing an anthem is classless. Just because Canada set fire to the White House so many years ago, doesn’t mean you have to respond like this Washington. Can’t we be friends until tip off? At the very least the fans should realize that the Raptors are largely made up of American players.

I hate Paul Pierce…I hate him so much. He wasn’t even very good and I was still distracted by how much I hate him.

Beal is exceptional at drawing non shooting fouls. He clearly understands that his shooting forces his guard to chase so closely around screens, then he occasionally will just slam on the breaks and force his man to run straight through him. Vasquez in particular was taken advantage of this way.

Drake was seen walking to his courtside seats halfway through the first quarter, and was met by resounding boos from the hostile Washington crowd. Clearly he didn’t win any of them over with his dap to Paul Pierce.

Someone is inevitably going to complain about the officiating and blame it for the loss. Granted, the game was called poorly, but this was the case for both teams. The Raptors were simply outplayed and overmatched. If you let Drew Gooden dominate you then you deserve to lose, and now they likely have just 48 minutes remaining in their season.

Sampson had his long hair and Kyle Lowry has his headband. Looking like an aerobics instructor from the 1980s, Lowry notched his second triple-double of the season as the Raptors comfortably handled the Pacers in Indianapolis, 117-98.

In perhaps the most consistent quarter-to-quarter performance in months, the Raptors didn’t need to rely on any late heroics to complete the season sweep of the surging Pacers. Kyle Lowry opened the game with a tough, step back three and kept the ball rolling from there, finishing the first half with a Westbrook-like 12 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. The biggest scare of the game came at the end of the second quarter when the Pacers narrowed a once 14-point gap to four by turning a number of early shot-clock misses by the Raptors into points on the other end.

The Raptors quickly undid the damage inflicted late in the second quarter by opening the third hitting four consecutive threes as part of a 14-3 Toronto run. Valanciunas was a total stud, collecting a number of loose balls and second chance points, and finishing with 8 points and 6 rebounds in the quarter.

The fourth was somewhat of a grind-it-out, ‘we’re not going to f*ck this up’ affair, as the Raptors got to the line 16 times and clamped down on defense, holding the Pacers scoreless for the final 3 minutes and 16 seconds.

Positive Takeaways

Four quarters of solid basketball. No heart medication needed for this one.

Lowry looked like his December self: spunky, fearless and en fuego.

Three point shooting:

The Raptors opened each quarter with a three and hit twelve of them in the game. They shot 52.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Lowry was 5-8 from deep. He’s shooting 51.2 percent from deep after six games the month of March. (He shot 24 percent in 10 games in February).

The Pacers, on the other hand, shot 2-of-19. The Raptors D was pretty good in this one but the Pacers also simply missed a number of open looks.

Defense: The Pacers shot 43 percent for the game and a dreadful 22 percent in the fourth. I thought Jonas did an especially nice job against Hibbert in the first half. Hill got by Lowry on a number of occasions but nevertheless, Lowry looked more committed defensively than I’ve seen from him in a while. It wasn’t a brilliant defensive performance from the Raptors, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Rebounding: The Raptors owned the rebounding battle 51 to 36.

DeRozan’s second half restraint: After firing up a number of questionable shots in a 5-of-15 first half, DeMar took only four shots in the second half, while getting to the line 9 times.

Negatives:

DeRozan’s shot selection in the first half (see above).

James Johnson DNP-CD. Two thoughts on this: 1.) He’s too good not to play. 2.) Casey is creating a potentially volatile situation late in the season.

The Raptors played loose, ‘unconscious’ basketball (term coined by Pacers’ broadcast team), which was nice to see, but that also led to a lot of questionable shots early in the possession. Nature of the beast, I suppose.

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/03/17/raptors-sweep-the-pacers-lowry-goes-ham/feed/37Raptors Fight Hard in Loss to the Cavshttp://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/03/05/raptors-fight-hard-in-loss-to-the-cavs/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/03/05/raptors-fight-hard-in-loss-to-the-cavs/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 15:00:07 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=52115The Raptors can hold their heads up high after a 120-112 loss to the Cavaliers last night.

The Raptors can hold their heads up high after a 120-112 loss to the Cavaliers last night. Unlike the train wreck that occurred at home last Friday against the Warriors, the Raptors battled Cleveland to the wire after falling behind by 19 points in the third quarter.

The first quarter was a fun brand of basketball from both teams. The Raptors moved the ball, involving Jonas early and often, and ended the quarter with eight assists and only one turnover. DeRozan, who was clearly intent on getting to the rim instead of launching contested bombs, led the way for the Raptors with 12 points. On the other end, James Johnson and Valanciunas struggled to defend LeBron in pick-and-roll situations, which resulted in a number of easy baskets for Mozgov like the one you see below.

LeBron finished the quarter with four assists.

The second quarter turned out to be the Raptors’ Achilles heel. Offensively, the Raptors – particularly Terrence Ross – missed several open looks, but the bigger problem was on the defensive end, where there were a number of breakdowns. Kyrie Irving blew by Vasquez repeatedly but the bigger dagger was the long ball. James drew Raptor power forwards into his sphere again and again out of pick-and-rolls, creating wide open looks for Cleveland’s stretch fours on the perimeter. Kevin Love hit all three of his three-point shots and finished with 11 points in the quarter. James Jones also hit two wide-open threes.

It looked like things might go the way of the Golden State game early in the third but Toronto refused to let that happen. After falling behind by 19 points, the Raptors went on an inspired 15-8 run that included a monster slam and two big three pointers from DeMar.

Valanciunas was an absolute beast in the quarter, scoring ten points, pulling down six rebounds and tackling LeBron James to the floor to prevent a dunk with 18 seconds to play.

Riding the momentum of the run that ended the third, Lou Williams absolutely stole the show in the fourth, scoring 14 of the Raptors first 17 points and finishing with 21 points in the quarter. Terrence Ross hit a three to put the Raptors up 96-95 with 6:14 to play but LeBron simply proved to be too much for the Raptors to handle. Noticeably angry after the hard foul at the end of the third, LeBron went into beast mode after the Cavs blew the lead, stream rolling his way to 17 points in the quarter and burying the Raptors’ comeback hopes in the process.

Thoughts:

This was a spirited effort from Toronto but without Lowry the talent gap was simply too much to overcome.

LeBron is like a magnet and nervous defenders really had a difficult time knowing who was responsible for guarding whom when James ran the pick-and-roll.

It’s amazing how much better Cleveland’s spacing is since shaking up their roster. They’re now 20-4 since starting the season 19-20.

Not sure what was up with Patterson. I am usually a fan of his defense but he wasn’t with it last night, especially in the second quarter.

Terrence Ross got off to a slow start but he was locked in on both ends in the fourth quarter: 12 minutes, 8 points, 3-3 FG, 2-2 3PM

Valanciunas was awesome. Some glaring defensive lapses in the first half but goodness gracious I loved the feistiness. It’s amazing what happens when you give him the rock: 26 points, 12-17 FG, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks.

Last night was only the second time DeRozan hit 2 threes in a game all season.

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/03/05/raptors-fight-hard-in-loss-to-the-cavs/feed/35Raptors Play Badly, Crushed by Warriorshttp://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/28/raptors-play-like-poop-lose-badly-warriors/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/28/raptors-play-like-poop-lose-badly-warriors/#commentsSat, 28 Feb 2015 14:00:09 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=51875My eyes still hurt from staring into the flames of burning garbage for two hours as the Raptors were spanked like naughty school boys in front of 20,000 fans last night at the Air Canada Center.

My eyes still hurt from staring into the flames of burning garbage for two hours as the Raptors were spanked like naughty school boys in front of 20,000 fans last night at the Air Canada Center.

The game started off with a ferocious James Johnson block and then fell off a cliff immediately thereafter. The Raps had the worst first quarter in franchise history, shooting an abysmal 1 for 19 from the field. Instead of working the ball inside after a rough start from the field, Lowry and DeRozan continued to fire away, missing 12 of the Raptors first 15 shots before being pulled from the game. Jonas had one shot attempt in the quarter. On top of the terrible shooting, the team also turned the ball over 6 times. Despite only shooting 34.8 percent on the quarter themselves, the Warriors were up 27-11 after one.

The second quarter was actually pretty okay for a fleeting moment in time, as the second unit brought the game within ten. Vasquez made a concerted effort to move the ball, Terrence Ross was aggressive and hitting his shots, and for a second there it looked like the Raps might make a game of things. But, alas, Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes checked back in and the smack down continued as Golden State went on a 27-14 run to close out the quarter. T. Ross led the way for the Raptors in the quarter with 7 points.

Things went from tragedy to farce in the third as the Warriors absolutely toyed with their hapless opponents. The Raptors gave up 44 points in the quarter, allowing the Warriors to shoot a ridiculous 18 of 22 from the field.

Dwane Casey was so disgusted with the team’s energy that he pulled his entire starting unit with 8:45 to play, after they were outscored 13-2 to open the quarter. There were, however, a couple of entertaining nuggets from the quarter. For example with 3:05 to go in the quarter the Raptors had 48 points, Curry and Thompson had 47. The most exciting moment came courtesy of Festus Ezeli and Tyler Hansbrough, who got a little salty with each other after Festus gave Hansbrough a throat chop.
Strangely enough Terrence Ross continued to go ham, dropping 10 in the quarter.

The Raptors actually played pretty well in the fourth quarter, but it didn’t matter because they were down 41 to start the period and no one cared. All of the starters returned to open the final period except for Lowry. Jonas played really hard and did this.

The real highlight was watching Chuck Hayes and Greg Stiemsma man the court together for the final six and a half minutes. It was as wonderful as you’d expect.

Things got super strange to close out the quarter, as everyone was basically waiting for the game to end and Jack Armstrong started cracking jokes about newspaper obituaries.

Other Stuff:

This was embarrassing. The Raptors didn’t lead once the entire game and frankly they didn’t even put up a fight. DeRozan and Lowry are in some kind of funk and they’re trying to hammer their way out of it by taking turns forcing the issue, rather than moving the ball and letting the offense work for them.

If it took a huge loss to help Ross get some of his mojo back moving forward, then it’s a win in the long run.

We’re in a rut. We’re tired. Our stars need to regain their confidence. A couple of bounce back opportunities against New York and Philly will give them a chance to do that before another big test at home against Cleveland. How we respond to this embarrassing loss will say a lot about our team.

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/28/raptors-play-like-poop-lose-badly-warriors/feed/19Podcap: Warriors vs Raptors – Casey, Lowry, DeRozan, Pattersonhttp://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/27/podcap-warriors-vs-raptors-casey-lowry-derozan-patterson/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/27/podcap-warriors-vs-raptors-casey-lowry-derozan-patterson/#commentsSat, 28 Feb 2015 04:01:25 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=51850Here’s audio from Dwane Casey, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Patterson after Golden State beat Toronto 113-89. Grab the iTunes feed or check us out on Stitcher on Android. There is also the plain old feed. You can also download the file (09:48, 9 MB). Or just listen below:

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/27/podcap-warriors-vs-raptors-casey-lowry-derozan-patterson/feed/3Game Day: The Warriors Come Out To Playhttp://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/27/game-day-warriors-come-play/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/27/game-day-warriors-come-play/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 14:00:59 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=51809After a brutal Western Conference swing, the Raptors return home to take on the Splash Brothers and the league leading Golden State Warriors.

With Mark Jackson at the helm of the Golden State Warriors, he guided them to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in more than 20 years, and even coached them to the second round in 2013. He helped turn them into one of the best defensive teams in the league. And then he was suddenly fired.

Enter Steve Kerr, who had to choose between the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors. Amazingly, he chose the franchise that hadn’t given away all it’s first round picks for the next 50 years, won just 37 games and traded for Andrea Bargnani the season before.

Kerr brought with him five championship rings from two different teams and a Spurs-like offensive strategy. And with “the best shooting backcourt in NBA history”, the Warriors now sit with the best record in the league and are the odds on favourite to make it to the Finals in the league’s toughest conference.

While the Warriors still have one of the best defenses in the league, they now also have one of the top rated offenses. Steph Curry has put his ankle problems that plagued him early in his career far behind him and is neck and neck with James Harden in the race for MVP. Curry is one of the best ball handlers, shooters and passers in the league, and is also arguably one of the most entertaining players, as well.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH

Is There Something Wrong With The Raptors?

After starting the season 22-6, the Raptors have gone 15-14 in the last 29 games. In those first 28 games, the Raptors scored 100 points or more 23 times. In the last 29, they’ve scored 100 points or more just 15 times. Notice a pattern?

The Raptors are still one of the top rated teams offensively, but they are showing some cracks. In wins, the team is scoring 108.6 points compared to just 97.5 points in losses, so obviously the Raptors need to score to win, especially since their defense is still below average.

Those scoring struggles can be directly tied to Lowry’s decline in productivity in the last two months. Since December, when Lowry was not just playing at All Star level but was in discussions as a fringe MVP candidate, there’s been a sharp decline in production from Lowry across the board. In December, Lowry peaked at 22.3 ppg, 8.9 apg and 4.2 rpg. In February, Lowry saw his averages dip to 12.8 ppg, 5.9 apg and 3.2 rpg and his offensive rating bottom out at 90 (after being weel over 100 for most of the rest for the season). He’s also shooting 36% from the field and less than 30% from three in January and February.

Without Lowry playing like he did at the beginning of the season, the Raptors are a mediocre team.

Is The Warriors Backcourt Really The Best Shooters Ever?

When Mark Jackson made the claim that Curry and Thompson were the best shooting backcourt ever, many fans and experts alike scoffed. It sounded a like a coach trying to hype his own players, but he may have been right. Right now, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are scoring a combined 46.1 ppg with a gaudy true shooting percentage of .624 and .598, respectively and could both end up shooting more than 40% from three for the season.

Since the advent of the three point line, the only backcourt to come close to that, shooting-wise, were John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, of the Utah Jazz. But they weren’t even close in scoring.

At this point, I’d say backcourts like Jerry West and Gail Goodrich, Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, and Walt Frazier and Earl Munroe have to be considered better overall. None of them have Curry and Thompson beat shooting-wise.

Will Home Cooking Help The Raptors?

After losing three in a row on their recent Western Conference road trip, the Raptors return to the Air Canada Centre. They’ve only lost more than two in a row one other time this season, back in at the beginning of January with their last Western Conference road trip. They lost three in a row on the road and then lost their return game at home against the Charlotte Hornets.

The Raptors have been unpredictable lately, both at home and on the road. They recently lost against Milwaukee and Brooklyn at home, but beat both the Spurs and Hawks, in Atlanta. The only thing predictable is that if the Raptors are able to score, they tend to win. But they are going against a better scoring team AND one of the best defensive teams in the league.

BREAKDOWN

Starters

The Raptors have one of the best backcourts in the league, but the Warriors backcourt is better. While Valanciunas is a better offensive player than Andrew Bogut, he’s not the defensive anchor or passer that Bogut is. Draymond Green may be undersized for the power forward position, but he’s an excellent role player who can step out and hit the jumper, and is also a triple double threat.

Edge: Warriors

Bench

The Raptors bench may not be scoring like they did in the first half of the season, they are still up there. The Warriors aren’t much farther behind, with former All Stars Andre Iguodala and David Lee both coming of their bench. However, Iguodala is the only bench player to play more than 20 mpg, partly because the Warriors’ starters are so good, but also because the bench isn’t incredibly deep. They do have some talent, though, and it’s comparable to the Raptors.

Edge: Even

Coaching

At this point in the season, either Steve Kerr or Atlanta’s Mike Budenholzer are the favourites to win the Coach of the Year Award. While there were questions about Kerr at first because he’d never actually coached in any capacity before, his performance on the bench so far has erased any doubts.

Edge: Warriors

PREDICTION

The Raptors have lost three in a row compared to just one for the Warriors. One of them will win tonight and break their losing streak.

Interestingly, of the Warriors eleven losses, six of those came back-to-back. That could mean that they are vulnerable, but the Raptors have scored at least 100 points just twice in their last nine, and that’s not going to cut it against a team like the Warriors. Then again, while the Warriors are an excellent defensive team, they play an uptempo game and let their opponent score and average of exactly 100 points.

What does this all mean? Who knows. For those of you following, I’m 0-4 for predictions in my last four, despite going with the favourite every single time. So why change my strategy now…

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2015/02/27/game-day-warriors-come-play/feed/38Raptors Weekly Podcast, Dec 15 – In the Midst of Underlingshttp://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2014/12/15/raptors-weekly-podcast-dec-15-midst-underlings/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2014/12/15/raptors-weekly-podcast-dec-15-midst-underlings/#commentsMon, 15 Dec 2014 13:15:01 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=49226Tamberlyn and Zarar discuss the Knicks game, the week that was, fans calling for Casey's head, and building a buffer before the big trip.

]]>http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2014/12/15/raptors-weekly-podcast-dec-15-midst-underlings/feed/6The Needs Of Valanciunas And The Raptors Aren’t Lining Uphttp://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2014/11/24/needs-valanciunas-raptors-arent-lining/
http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2014/11/24/needs-valanciunas-raptors-arent-lining/#commentsMon, 24 Nov 2014 19:00:20 +0000http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/?p=48457Jonas Valanciunas is struggling on defence, which has made it hard to the Raptors to rely on him in the ways that they had hoped they could.

We may have reached a point where the needs of the Toronto Raptors and the needs of Jonas Valanciunas have made a decisive split. His minutes are down, he rarely plays in fourth quarters and there just doesn’t seem to be an opportunity to work through his mistakes on the court with wins now representing the team’s yardstick for success.

The primary cause for this dilemma remains the issues that Valanciunas displays on defence. He is still too often found out of position, or only half-committing to defensive rotations, he is still easy to bait into leaving his feet and he frequently neglects box-out assignments at the end of a defensive stand. The team lets up 11.7 points per 100 possessions more when Valanciunas is on the floor (per 82games.com) and that has left Dwane Casey unable to play Valanciunas down the stretch in tight contests, the most recent example being the nail-biter against Memphis last week.

Now, it needs to be said early and often that Valanciunas is not playing poorly. He is a tremendously efficient offensive player and his post moves are varied and well-executed. He’s in the top-ten in PER amongst centres at 20.53 and he’s increased his shooting percentages in each of his first three seasons.

However, those defensive issues are a problem, and the team cannot afford to just leave him on the court to work them out. This is his third NBA season and he is still making a lot of the same defensive mistakes that he made last year and the year before. It’s a combination of timidity and uncertainty. Part of that is not his fault. He has been burned several times this season and last when he has made his defensive rotation and no one has covered him by rotating to his man. That has made him tentative about fully committing to leaving his assignment, which pulls him into a half-committed No Man’s Land where he’s not decisively covering anyone. This leaves the team open to easy passing sequences that leaves the Raptors scrambling to keep up.

The Raptors are 16th in the NBA is opponent’s field goal percentage five feet and in (58.4%), and that’s on a schedule that’s seen them play Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami and Washington — all teams in the bottom half of the league in shooting at the rim. This situation doesn’t fall entirely at the feet of Valanciunas, but he does represent the team’s last line of defence when he is out on the court, and right now that represents a dicey proposition for a club looking to stake its claim on the defensive end.

Now, this might not have been enough to cut into Valanciunas’ minutes on its own. He has seen a 4.4 reduction in minutes from last season, though, because this issue combines with a lack of toughness on the glass. The boxing-out issue has already been mentioned, but if you looked at his per-minute rebounding numbers you’d see that they are mostly holding steady from a season ago. The problem arises when you dig into those numbers to see where those rebounds are coming from. 61.7% of Valanciunas’ rebounds are categorized as uncontested (a stat which tracks rebounds that are snatched when there was no defender within 3.5 feet — thanks nba.com), meaning that he is mostly padding his rebounding numbers by chasing down those rebounds that other players have more or less conceded. For comparison, 64% of Amir Johnson’s rebounds are contested, as are 62.8% of Tyler Hansbrough’s. Given Valanciunas’ size advantage over both of those players you’d have hoped for better, but the numbers say what the numbers say.

The surprising part about all of this is how differently things are working out for Valanciunas than they were supposed to. He was brought in to be the team’s new Marcus Camby, a hyper-aggressive defensive and rebounding force that would see his offence evolve over time. Instead the reverse has been true, as his offensive game has significantly eclipsed the growth in his defensive and rebounding technique. Dwane Casey once said that a worst-case scenario for Valanciunas was Joakim Noah (oops), and to a certain degree the roster has been built with that comparable in mind. As Valanciunas rounds into the kind of player that he is going to be those expectations are going to need a bit of course-correcting.

Sadly, the person most likely to be impacted by all of this is Amir Johnson, the most tireless worker on the Raptors roster. If this is who Valanciunas is as a player (and it must be said again, it’s not a bad player, just a different one than expected), is Johnson the right counterpart for him in the post? While he’s still a tremendously effective player, he’s no longer the staggering plus-minus beast that he was in years past, and his nagging ankle injuries make him hard to rely on in the way that the Raptors need. With free agency coming up fast for Johnson, that Raptors will have a difficult time pricing him out as a running mate to Valanciunas going forward.

Still, it’s early. Very early. Now that Valanciunas is losing minutes as a result of his defensive struggles it might be enough to activate him at that end in the hopes of earning back his lost playing time. As a result of the team’s early success he’s been thrust into a situation that has the team needing more from him than it might even be fair to ask for considering how early we are in his career. Learning NBA defence is hard, and it takes time. The Raptors are simply at a point where they need a bit more consistency on defence because they are in winning mode now. That has pushed the development of Valanciunas into a weird corner that he’s going to have to work himself out of. Things rarely going according the schedule in professional sports, so Valanciunas and the Raptors are just going to have to find a way to keep developing their youngster while they attempt to stay at or near the top of the Eastern Conference.

NBA.com

And right now, the East is mostly made of bad teams. The Toronto Raptors are basically the only team in the conference that has played really well, but even Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies comes with the context that Memphis was without three of the top six guys in their rotation.

After Lou Williams Weekend (58 points and three buzzer-beaters in wins over Milwaukee and Cleveland), the Raptors have contender numbers on both ends of the floor. But they’ve played the league’s easiest schedule, which doesn’t really get tough until late December. And they might be fortunate to play the “fragile” Cavs two more times in the next 15 days.

NBA.com takes the most negative view of the situation, surprised they didn’t also blame the inclement weather in Buffalo as the reason for the Raptors 11-2 start.

ESPN

Since the Rudy Gay trade, Toronto sports the East’s best record at 52-24, which is 4½ games better than Chicago’s 48-29. The committee (of one) is starting to get its hopes up, in other words, that our long-awaited return to T-Dot for the first time since 2007 won’t have to wait until All-Star Weekend in 2016.

The Raptors need to beat some Western Conference teams to further legitimize themselves. The stomach flu thing with the Grizzlies is hurting them in the rankings a little, but tonight against Phoenix provides a good opportunity to mend that.

SB Nation

Another week of great play from the Raptors. who are now on a four-game winning streak that includes wins over the Grizzlies, Cavaliers and Bucks. The Raptors are behind Memphis for the best winning percentage in the league, but Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies put them over the top.

Unlike most other power rankings, they’re putting some stock in the Toronto-Memphis clash.

Sports Illustrated

There’s more to fear in the north than just the cold. Unlike the Bulls (injuries) or Cavaliers (chemistry issues), the Raptors are a finished product and off to a roaring start. Toronto ranks in the top 10 in offensive and defensive efficiency and trails only Dallas in net rating (11.6). The Raptors are also 3-0 against the West and became the latest team to kick the Cavaliers while they’re down.

Hey, turns out we have beaten Western conference teams (Memphis, Utah, OKC).